no ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST 



bird-lover Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny, filled with noisy 

 crowds of Egrets and little egret-like Herons. These, 

 in great flocks, fly back across the ' Mexique Bay ' 

 in the spring months from their winter quarters in 

 South America. Arrived in Louisiana, they feed and 

 roost in flocks for a time, but gradually split up into 

 pairs. Each pair, detaching themselves from the 

 flocks, choose a nesting-site (by joint deliberation) 

 among the willows and maples of the breeding pond. 

 And then follows a curious phenomenon. Instead 

 of proceeding at once to biological business in the 

 shape of nest-building and egg-laying, they indulge 

 in what can only be styled a honeymoon. For three 

 or four days both members of the pair are always on 

 the chosen spot, save for the necessary visits which 

 they alternately pay to the distant feeding grounds. 

 When both are there, they will spend hours at a time 

 sitting quite still, just touching one another. Gener- 

 ally the hen sits on a lower branch, resting her head 

 against the cock bird's flanks ; they look for all the 

 world like one of those inarticulate but happy couples 

 upon a bench in the park in spring. Now and again, 

 however, this passivity of sentiment gives place to wild 

 excitement. Upon some unascertainable cause the 

 two birds raise their necks and wings, and, with loud 

 cries, intertwine their necks. This is so remarkable 

 a sight that the first time I witnessed it I did not 

 fully credit it, and only after it had happened before 

 my eyes on three or four separate occasions was I 



